My invention was created with the intent of simplifying a stringed instrument so that all the strings are simultaneously set to the proper flats, sharps and naturals for any desired key signature.
My invention resulted from my looking for and being unable to find a musical instrument that met the personal criteria of being portable, non-electric, inexpensive, versatile and easy to play. Without enumerating specific instruments, problems generally were found in areas such as learning breath control for wind instruments and fingering patterns for stringed instruments, as well as problems in the area of limitations in key signatures in which many simple instruments can be played.
A piano is generally considered as an instrument friendly to beginners, but it helps to look at one drawback of the piano, and of most other musical instruments, this being that the player must remember the key signature of a song and remember to sharpen (meaning raise the pitch of) or flatten (meaning lower the pitch of) various notes when playing. For example, if the player looks at the written music and sees symbols for three flat notes at the beginning of the score, then the player must remember to flatten those three notes each time they appear in the music. My invention allows the player, with one adjustment, to flatten or sharpen all the necessary strings for any key signature, freeing the player from remembering to have to do so each time the relevant notes occur.